A
woman kneels while waiting in line at an early-voting polling
place in Los Angeles.Associated
Press/Reed Saxon

Historic division brought voters out in droves for this
presidential election. More than
46 million people voted before Election Day, breaking
early-voting records and fueling Democrats' confidence in
clinching the presidency.

But by the time most of the votes had been counted, it became
clear that nearly every poll's expectation of Hillary Clinton
becoming the 45th president was drastically wrong, and Republican
Donald Trump would be heading to the White House. And that
possible record-breaking turnout had a lot more asterisks
attached to it.

Nearly 139 million Americans voted this year, according to the
United States
Elections Project. This sets a new overall record, surpassing
the all-time high of 132 million Americans who
voted in the 2008 contest between Barack Obama and John McCain.

But that total suggests that only 60% of the country's 232
million eligible voters actually voted this year.

For some Americans, the two names at the top of the 2016 ticket
were so unpalatable that they opted not to vote for president at
all, instead focusing on down-ballot races.

While the overall turnout in 2008 and 2016 sounds impressive,
neither saw the highest percentage of voters that ever hit the
polls.

That was in the race between Democrat Samuel J. Tilden and
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, when 83% eligible voters
turned out. That election was similarly contentious to this
year's, with Hayes squeaking out a victory of 185-184 electoral
votes after a lengthy political and legal battle.

Of course, that was before women had the right to vote and when
minorities were routinely disenfranchised, so that high
percentage mostly applies to white men.

The reason 2008 and 2016 appear to have record-breaking
turnout is because the
US population has increased, so there are more voters
overall. But when you look at voter turnout as a percentage, it
has decreased or stagnated in the last century.

Here's how voter turnout in US presidential elections compares
over time: